Dimensional Mutation and Spacelike Singularities

摘要

I argue that critical string theory on a Riemann surface of genus h >> 1 crosses over, when the surface approaches the string scale in size, to a background of supercritical string theory with effective central charge as large as 2h. Concrete evidence for this proposal is provided by the high energy density of states (realized on the Riemann surface side by strings wrapping nontrivial elements of the fundamental group) and by a linear sigma model which at large h approximates the time evolution through the initial transition. This suggests that cosmological singularities arising in negatively curved FRW backgrounds may be replaced by a phase of supercritical string theory.